Lesson Topics: teaching, education, technology
Skill Focus: Listening, Speaking, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: state-education-teaching-advanced-042025.docx
- The lesson begins with warm-up questions about education and teaching.
- Before viewing the video, students preview phrases featuring key vocabulary and match the bolded terms to their definitions.
- The lesson's video is 1:36 minutes in length. It features a North American teacher complaining about her inability to connect with her technology-addicted students. The video concludes with her saying that it's "definitely not the teachers' fault."
- The video is followed by comprehension and follow-up questions.
- Next, students review the ten vocabulary items by matching them to their corresponding definitions.
- After vocabulary matching, students form discussion questions with the target vocabulary.
- The lesson has one debate and then a larger debate scenario entitled The Roundtable of Blame that asks students to pick a role (e.g. teacher, student, tech company CEO) and then argue why others are to blame for the current educational woes, not themselves.
- The lesson has one roleplay, in which a young teacher tries to give advice to an older teacher on how she can make her classes more engaging for youth today.
- After a sentence completion activity to reinforce the lesson's vocabulary, students review vocabulary and collocations before discussing some final discussion questions.
ADVANCED (C1/C2) Lesson on the Current State of Education
Warm-up-Questions
- How has education changed since the days of your parents?
- Have you ever wanted to be a teacher? Why or why not?
- Is it easier to teach children today than thirty years ago?
Vocabulary Previewing: Match the bolded phrases from today’s video to their definitions below.
- First of all the kids have no ability to be bored whatsoever.
- Because they are in a constant state of dopamine withdrawal at school, they behave like addicts.
- The smallest things set them off.
- And when you are standing in front of them trying to teach, they’re vacant.
- They have no ability to tune in if your communication isn’t packaged in short little clips…
- This is actually the way harder part for me than just the outright
- And they have a level of apathy that I’ve never seen before ….
- … it might be our capitalistic society’s fault…
1. ____________ (phr. v) to make someone suddenly angry or emotional
2. ____________ (n) disinterest; not caring about things; having no interest or feeling
3. ____________ (adj) happening all the time without stopping
4. ____________ (adj) empty; not showing any interest or thought
5. ____________ (adj) related to a system where money and business are the most important values
6. ____________ (adv) used to emphasize “none at all”
7. ____________ (n) a person who cannot stop doing or using something harmful
8. ____________ (n) the bad feelings when someone stops getting something they’re addicted to
9. ____________ (adj) complete or total (often used for something negative)
10. ____________ (phr. v) to pay attention or focus on something
Video: Watch the following video from a teacher.
- Video: https://x.com/j00ny369T/status/1900357484545442119 (1:36, AmE)
Comprehension & Follow-up Questions
1) Recall & Retell: Describe the contents of the video to a partner using your own words.
2) What is the speaker’s main message about the state of public education today?
3) The video talks about “dopamine”. What is it and how is it relevant to the teacher’s argument?
4) How would the teacher likely respond to commenters on TikTok who recommend punishing students?
5) What is the speaker’s tone throughout the video? Support your answer with examples.
6) Are the problems the teacher is describing also happening in your home country? Explain.
Replace the underlined phrase with one of the words below. Then ask the questions to a partner.
whatsoever / constant / withdrawal / addict / set (someone) off / vacant
tune in / outright / apathy / capitalistic
- Are humans strong enough to resist the pleasures of money-driven economies?
- What topics can really make young people angry these days?
- What would you have the worst bad feelings from losing access to: your mobile phone, sweets, or alcohol?
- What are some strategies teachers can use to make their students pay attention?
- Why do many people feel disinterest towards politics?
- Would you date someone who was beautiful but had no future ambition or goals at all?
- What’s something you’re a bit of a(n) person who can’t stop doing something for—but in a harmless way?
Speaking Activity: Debate
- Teaching children today is no more challenging than it was before smartphones and social media.
Speaking Activity: The Roundtable of Blame (Group Work)
Situation: Literary (reading) levels, math scores, and overall academic performance have been declining steeply over the past decade. Your country’s president has called a meeting, demanding two things: a group to blame and solutions.
Task: Pick a role below. Spend five minutes thinking of reasons why you are not to blame for the failure of students today and why it is the fault of others (in the room). Then begin the debate.
Roles: Representative for teachers, Social Media CEO, Representative for Parents, Representative for Students
Speaking Activity: Roleplay (Pair Work)
Situation #1: Mrs. Green has been teaching her history class the same way for the last 40 years. Her students sit vacantly in her class, wishing they were on their phones. Ali is a new teacher at the school. He is young and his classes are quite popular.
| Ali: You’ve heard students complain about Mrs. Green. She is from an older generation and doesn’t connect well with her young students. You want to help her improve her classes. Try to give Mrs. Green some tips to make her class more engaging. (Ideas: use short videos, assign group work, take away phones, use phones as part of your lesson, etc.). You will start the conversation. Possible expression: Students will tune in if the right strategies are used. |
| Mrs. Green: Your students don't seem to enjoy your lessons. This surprises you, since your lessons were effective in 1985 when you designed them. A new teacher, Ali, wants to talk with you. Possible expression: They have no desire to learn whatsoever. |
Complete the Sentences
- One thing I would struggle with withdrawal from is…
- A time when I felt apathy toward something important was…
- I think today’s media creates constant pressure to…
- I tune in to a conversation anytime someone mentions…
Vocabulary: Insert one of the below vocabulary items into the appropriate blank.
addict / capitalistic / tune in / set (someone) off / outright / apathy
constant / vacant / withdrawal / whatsoever
1. First of all the kids have no ability to be bored ____________ .
2. Because they are in a ____________ state of dopamine ____________ at school, they behave like ____________.
3. The smallest things _____ them _____.
4. And when you are standing in front of them trying to teach, they’re ____________.
5. They have no ability to ____________ if your communication isn’t packaged in short little clips…
6. This is actually the way harder part for me than just the ____________ behaviors.
7. And they have a level of ____________ that I’ve never seen before ….
8. … it might be our ____________ society’s fault…
Collocation Review
| 1. They’re just fed a constant 2. They’re super 3. short little 4. interacting with them briefly in between 5. teachers are getting a lot of | a) emotional b) hits of the Internet c) hate d) stream of dopamine e) clips |
Final Discussion Questions
- Einstein once said, “"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." Do you agree?
- What type of punishment would really get students’ attention?
- How does your country’s education system rank globally?
- Did you care about school when you were younger? What about your peers?
This lesson plan was created by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. ChatGPT was used to generate answer keys and some famous quotations. For questions, contact the author.
Comprehension Question Answer Key
- …
- The speaker believes that public education is in crisis. Students are emotionally absent, addicted to phones, and no longer respond to traditional teaching methods or discipline.
- Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that creates feelings of pleasure. The teacher argues that students are used to constant dopamine from their phones, so they feel bored or withdrawn in class without it.
- The teacher would likely disagree. They believe students are already disconnected and that punishments don't work because students don’t care about grades or consequences.
- ... (Expected answers: frustrated, hopeless, urgent—supported by examples like “they’re not there” and comparisons to addiction.)
- ...
Vocabulary: 1- blurt out, 2- therapy, 3- impulsive, 4- self-reflection, 5- projection, 6- attribute, 7- snap at, 8- unconscious, 9- resentment, 10- suppress, 11- confront, 12- hostile
Top exports: The United States-petroleum, Canada- petroleum, Mexico-cars, China-communication devices, Brazil-soya beans, The U.K.-cars, France-aircraft, Germany-cars, South Korea-electronic circuits, Australia-coal, Greenland-fish, Russia- petroleum
Vocabulary: 1-set (someone) off, 2-apathy, 3-constant, 4-vacant, 5-capitalistic, 6-whatsoever, 7-addict, 8-withdrawal, 9-outright, 10-tune in
Collocations 1-d, 2-a, 3-e, 4-b, 5-c